Automatic telegraphy



March 17, 1925.

E. HEURTLEY AUTOMATIC TELEGRAPHY FilediApril 9 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet p v W' 7 March 17, 1925. 1,529,700

E. s. HEURTLEY AUTOMATIC TELEGRAPHY Filed Apiil e, 1925 4 Shets-Sheet 2 March 17, 1925. 1,529,700

E. s. HEURTLEY AUTOMATIC TELEGRAPHY Filed @511 9, 1925 1 Sheets-Sheet 5 P: t g;

March 17,1925. 1,529,700

E, s. FIEURTLEY AUTOMATIC TELEGRAPHY Fild Apiil 9, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Mar. 17, 1925.

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ERNEST SYDNEY:HEURTLEY,.0E Lennon. ENGLAND, ASSIGNOROF ONE-HALE TO MITIRHEAD a coMraNxmMrrnni or ELEIIERS END, KENT, ENGLAND, A BRIfDISH COMPANY.

AUTOMATIC .TELEGBA PHY.

Application filed April 7 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST SYDNEY HEURTLEY, a subject of the King of Great: Britain; residing at 4 Great Winchester, Street, in the city andcounty of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Automatic Telegraphy, of which the following is a specification This invention relates to automatic teleg raphy and has forits" chief objectto' provide improved means by which in cable code'signalling, employing the usual perforated slip, block or either block or beat signals can be transmitted, or, in an adaptation of the transmitter, retransmitted from an intermediate station.

According to this invention the pecker operated contact mechanism is arranged mechanically to maintain ;a marking contact made either for a positive or a negative signalling impulse until a space or a marking contact of' opposite polarity, intervenes. Thus if, say, two or three perforations follow in line on either side of the perforated slip the marking contact continues without interruption through the same number. of time units,the contact being broken at the end of the succession of perforations by the corresponding pecker m'eetingfan unperfo-v rated part of the :slip. at the next pecker operation or time unit. If the second pecker which is required forlthe inarkingcontacts of opposite polarity meets at this time unit a perforation in the slip, a marking impulse of the opposite polarity, is sentand thi's marking contact continues until the second pecker meets the unperforated slip. In retransmission the operation of the peckers would be effected through receivinglelectroe magnets underthe control of ,the. original transmitter.

lVhile the pecker mechanisinis arranged to send block signals a device-may .be 1131:0- vided to transform the blooklsig nalsi. into beat signals should these be reopuired for which purpose a commutator or contact breaker may be provided, driven inflsynchronism so as to break contact or earth the pable once for each time unitl In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, thesame' will nowbe described more 1923. Serial No. 630,771

fully with reference to drawings, in which v Figures'l and l lare diagrams ofa circuit and essential portionsjof the apparatus embodying this invention Figures 2 and 3 are respectively a front and side elevation of a transmitter illustrating a convenient construction bvwhich the invention may be carried out; and

Figures 4 and 5 show the instrument adapted for retransmission. 4 A is the transmitter' casing mounted'on the base a, which also carries a motor B by which the transmitter is driven in a'manner commonly employed. The I motor shaft drives through the pinion Z) a toothed wheel 0 on the tape feeding shaft C,- on the outer end of which is'the star wheel 0, engaging the accompanying the central perforations of the tape inthe the other and corresponding to two. rows .of

perforations of the transmitting tape. The peckers are mounted on'the ends of the'le-' vers (Z pivoted at d on the end ofanam of the rocking bar E pivotedto the. fixed bracket 0 and rocked .throughtheconnecting rod e by the crank pin f on the. shaft F. A large'gear wheel G onthe shaft C gears with-the small pinion f on the shaft F, the ratio shown being tenIto 0ne,-so that-the shaft, F is driven at ten times thespeed of the star wheel shaft C,"the:star wheel "hav ing ten teethand the shaft F- making ,one revolution for each movement of the tape from one perforation to the next,

Two contact levers, H are provided, corre-v sponding to the two. peckers D,- the front lever H being shown in Figure 2, the second leverbei-ng of similar type,v and lyingimme'. diately behind the front lever. The lever H is pivoted at h to the bracket jz. which-is connected up in the transmitter circuit 1 and moves. between the two i adjustable? contacts 7 J J. The leveris provided with afsmall bias device of usual type, comprisinga spring/"z, andabias member ,h which holds the contact lever fover in, eitheigpositionl' .kg the. ,arms be ng adjuste'dl qflas t bring the two outer ends opposite the ends (Z of the corresponding pecker levers d. The ends d are portions of the levers which are twisted round into the horizontal plane. According to the position of a lever (1 its end (1 will be opposite the end of either the upper or the lower arm K. The construction shown is on the lines of the Murray automatic transmitter, but in this case one contact lever and one pecker only are employed, whereas for the present system it is essential to employ two levers and'peckers -or their equivalent in order to send block signals by cable code employing both posi tive and negative marking currents.

The general operation of the mechanism above described is as follows :The rocking bars E which carry the pecker levers d are reciprocated at a constant rate from the shaft F, driven, as alreadystated, at one revolution for each tooth movement of the wheel 0, that is,. for each step of the transmitter tape. This reciprocation causes the levers d to move to and fro around their pivots d and consequently'to cause the end (i of a lever to push over the arm K against which it may be set; If a pecker meets a perforation in the tape it is allowed to move upwards sufficiently far to bring the end of its corresponding lever d against the end of'the lower arm K on the contact lever H, and when the bar E rocks to the right the lever ol acting through the lower arm K will push over thecontact lever'H (assuming it is not already over) so that its contact end moves on to the'left-hand contact J and it is held on this contact by the bias device as long as no positive reversal is effected If on furthermovement, eithe-rat the next or any succeeding step in the movement of the tape, the same pecker meets an unperforated portion of the tape the lever 65 1s caused to take the second position, in which the end d lies against the end of the upper arm K. In this position, when the rocking bar E moves forward the contact lever H is pushed over to the right on to the second contact J. If, however, the tape has two or more successive perforations at the same side the pecker D at the forward movement of the rocking bar E still brings the lever end (Z opposite the lower arm K andthe contact lever H is unaffected. The action is precisely the same for both sets of peckers' and pecker and contact levers, so that either contact lever is moved over into marking position (or remains therein) for every perforation of thetape in the'corresponding line, while for unperforated portions in bothlines the contact levers are in nonmarking or earthing position, or, should both lines of the tape be perforated at the same point and both contact levers move over to the marking contacts, the cable would again be earthed, as will be explained later with reference to the diagrams, Figures 1 and 1. 7 v

If it is desired to transform the block signals produced by the pecker and contact lever mechanism above described into beat signals, the contact breaker shown at the left of Figure 2 and in the diagram Figure 1 may be employed, or an equivalent commutator driven at the required speed and making a regular make and break in the transmitter circuit. In the contact device shown, which provides for a variable mark ing for the beat signals, a rocking contact lever L is'provided, pivoted at Z on the adjustable support M carried on brackets m and adjustable longitudinally by the screw m so that the pivot of the contact lever L can be moved to right or left for adjustment purposes. The lower end of the'lever L meets the contact m and the circuit is completed through the support M and the lever itself, which is maintained in contacting po-' sition by the spring Z.

The contact of the lever L is intermittently broken by means of the cam N on the small shaft 12 provided with the pinion n gearing with the larger gear wheel G and driven at the same rate as the pinion f of the shaft F; Thus for every step of the tape one revolution of the cam N is made and the cam is so spacedthat the lever Lis caused to break the circuit through a predetermined portion of the revolution," the period of make and break determining the marking percentage for-the beat signals into which the block signals already provided for are broken.

To adjust the device to give the desired marking percentage the pointer 12 is set against the desired indication on the fixed circular scale 0, the transmitter being, of course, stopped. When the pointer is set to the required position by turning the gear the support M of the lever L is adjusted until the lever just makes contact at m when the other end meets the cam. When this adjustment is made the upper end of the lever L is on the portion of the cam N at which the breaking of the circuit is just about. to begin and, therefore, the circuit is broken through such a portion of the revolution as is represented by the part of'the cam at a V slip operated mechanismjat the transmitting end. The pecker'sjl),placedsideby side as before, are each 'u'nderthe control of an mature. S c'arriedfby'an adjusting arm .a mounted on the standardT'and adjusted by the screw a which bears on the carrierj u of the electromagnet U; The" armature S is controlledgbythespring and. when retractedhy thespring the peckergD is free to moveup, this position corresponding to a perforation in thefslip, but j-w hen an impulse atlects an electr magnelt-"U the correspond;-

ing armature is pulleckback and the pecker D is preventedfrom rising "The action of the armature on the pecker may of course be reversed and the peckerirecd when the elcctromaguet is excitedi'f The remaining operations are as already described for the original transmitter.

cated to provide forpositivewand negative marking impulses.

It is to beunderstood that ,thegtermpecker is employed to cover any-reciprocated inem her which is controlled by the initial operating device such as the perforated slip or the electromagnet retransmitter.

In the arrangement shown in the diagram, Figure 1, the transmission is effected through a pair of relays comprising the coils P and the armatures 79, the latter moving between the two pairs of contacts 79 which are connected to opposite ends of the sending battery Q. The transmitter circuit is provided with the local battery Q connected at one end to the contact circuit breaking lever L under the control of the cam N and at the other between the relay coils P. The coils as shown are connected to the contacts J and the relay armatures p are connected respectively to earth and to line. If contact is made at either one of the contacts J and the lever L is also in contact making position a circuit is closed through one or other of the relay coils P and the corresponding armature is moved up, while the other armature remains down, so that a current is sent into line, either positive or negative. according to which armature is in marking position. If neither coil P is excited. that is, it the circuit is broken at both of the contacts J, both of the armatures 79 are down on the lower contacts 79 and the line is, therefore, connected to earth. Also in the event of the circuit being closed at both of the contacts J both relay coils would be excited and both armatures g9 pulled up against the top contacts p when again the line would be connected to earth. If the circuit breaking lever L is in operation then at each revolution of the cam N the local circuit would be broken over a predetermined fraction of the revolution and the line would immediately be earthed by the relay armatures 3).

As indicated in Fig; ure 0 the retransmitting members are li li Figure 1 shows-cricuits which"- V used to effect transmission witheut ithe use of relays. In thiscase-the lever Lfis directly connected to earth and moves betaveeu two contacts m one earthed' and connected to an earthed contact lever I-I while tlieotheuis connected to the second lever HI Thef sending 'batteryafiis connected up to the; contacts'J between whiclrthelevers I-I move and, as before, when both levers- H are -or r in the same direct-ion on eithergpairjotcontacts the'line is earthedwvhileif the love are: at 'ditl erent-sidesa positive or negati e marking contact is-eii'ect'ed-{one sidefor other? of the battery Q} "being connected-to eartl'n while the other side is connected-to linez soi, long *as the lever L is 7 against the' upper: contact-m If the interru-pteris in operation" the-leveu L is intermittentlyabrought eon to' theflo'wer-contact m by-the actiouct ithe; camNand-theline is then cart-lied and tho signals-broken up-intobeatosigna-ls. i lVhatlclaiin and desireto secureby Let's: tcrsvPatent of-the -United States -is:i a

1. In an automatic telegraph transmitter adapted to send block signals, marking contact mechanism arranged to send both positive and negative signalling impulses, mechanical means whereby a marking contact made either for a positive or negative signalling impulse is maintained independently of the primary contact-making mechanism, and means for breaking the contact so maintained when a space or a marking contact of opposite polarity intervenes. v

2. In an automatic telegraph transmitter adapted to send block signals, a plurality of peckers, a plurality of contact levers under the control of corresponding peckers, means interposed between the peckers and contact levers whereby the said levers may be operated positively in both direc tions and a mechanical retaining device for each contact lever, adapted to hold it over in marking position independently of the position of its pecker until the said retaining device is positively operated mechanically in the opposite direction.

3. In an automatic telegraph transmitter adapted to send block s gnals, a plurality of peckers, a plurality of corresponding marking contact levers adapted to be held in any position to which they are moved, and a regularly operated oscillating device adapted to actuate the said contact levers under the control of their peckers, the position of which device relatively to a contact lever is determined by the position of the corresponding pecker.

at. In an automatic telegraph transmitter adapted to send block signals, means driven in synchronism with the signalling mechanism by which a block signal may be broken up into asuccession of heat signals, one for each time unit and occupying as a group substantially the time interval of the said block signal.

5. In an automatic telegraph transmitter adapted to send block signals, a circuit interrupter driven in synchronism with the signalling mechanism and adapted to break up a signals, one for each time unit and occupying as a group substantially the timeinterval of the said block signal.

6. In a transmitter as claimed in claim 4, means for adjusting the beat signal forming device whereby any predetermined percentage of marking for each of the beat signals produced by breaking up the block signals is provided.

7 In an automatic telegraph transmitter adapted to send block signals, a circuit interrupter, a synchronously driven rotary device operating the said interrupter whereby the block signals may be divided up into beat signals, one for each time unit, and means for adjusting the interrupter relatively to the said rotary device to problock signal into a succession of beat vide for any predetermined percentage of marking for the beat-signals.

8. In an automatic telegraph transmitter adapted to send block signals by retransmission, a plurality of receiving 7 electromagnets, marking contact mechanism under maintains a marking contact either for a positive or negative signalling impulseuntil a space or a marking contact of positive polarity intervenes. 7 c 9. In a transmitter as claimed in claim '8 a plurality of peckers operated by the corresponding receiving electromagnets, means for reciprocating the said peckers and movable members under the control of the electromagnets moved, according to the incoming signalling impulses, into and out of positions in which they co-operate vwith the said peckers.

ERNEST SYDNEY HEURTLEY. 

